A pair of very good baseball players earned election to the sport’s Hall of Fame Jan. 20, when Carlos Beltrán and Andruw Jones became just the seventh and eighth center fielders to win a spot in Cooperstown.
While neither are generational and the lone title won by either man in their collective 37 seasons was Beltrán’s 2017 title when he was a part-time 40-year-old DH and full-time illegal sign-stealing mastermind for the Houston Astros, their July inductions will be proof that gains can be made and early deficits overcome in voting.
Perhaps that will offer solace to those lurking a little further down the 2026 ballot. With that, a look at the winners and losers from 2026 Hall of Fame balloting:
Any notion that his role in the Astros’ sign-stealing scandal might ding his Hall candidacy was ludicrous, given the widespread Wild West atmosphere of high-tech cheating across the major leagues at that time.
No, Beltrán got in on his fourth try, a nice reward for a guy who broke in playing for some overmatched Kansas City Royals teams and finished it as a highly productive veteran bat in places like New York, St. Louis and Texas. Hopefully the Hall call will reopen the door to the manager’s office for a great baseball mind (and yes, one of its elite sign-stealers, legal or otherwise).
